Web-Based Malware Increased 139% During 2010, Discloses Cisco

In its Global Threat Report for Q4-2010, Cisco discloses that malicious software on the Web grew 139% during 2010 ever-since 2009. Also, incidences of Web malware grew the maximum during October 2010 at 250 incidences for an organization during the period.

Remarking about this discovery, Market Intelligence Manager Mary Landesman at Cisco stated that enterprises within the oil & energy and the chemical & pharmaceuticals industries remained being in the greatest danger from Web-malware all through 2010. Other sectors that had higher risks were education, and mining & agriculture, she added.

Furthermore, Web-traffic associated with search engines caused about 8% of the total Web-based malicious programs contracted during Q4-2010, with the maximum taking place from Google (3.84%). Further, the 3.84% figure accounted for an extraordinary drop; during Q3-2010, Google search traffic caused 7% of the total Web-based malicious programs contracted that Cisco blocked. Together, malevolent web-mail caused just 1% of infections during the period.

Significantly, during the later months of 2010, some dominant events occurring were sagas of Stuxnet and WikiLeaks disclosures, while Cisco's report indicates the way these global incidences made an influence on the network.

Said Landesman that when Amazon stopped users' access to WikiLeaks.org citing breach of its facility's policies & conditions, people crowded around networks for distributed file-sharing, particularly BitTorrent for acquiring leaked cables' duplicates that pertained to the U.S. Department of State. At that time, Cisco observed continuous activity to and fro BitTorrent, which was during most part of the three months, with a steep as also extended rise during early December 2010 just when the access was stopped, Landesman added. Itbusinessedge.com published this on February 8, 2011.

Cisco further disclosed in its report that there was a significant decline in spam volumes during Q4-2010 when many important events happened all through the year that aided in the drop. The events were like the botnet shutdowns vis-à-vis Zeus, Waledac, Lethic and Mariposa during Q1-2010, followed with Pushdo botnet's partial shutdown during August 2010. Some more shutdowns occurred in Q4-2010, which were those of Koobface and Bredolab botnets, while a malicious ISP Spamit.org too was terminated then, Cisco highlights.

Related article: Web Browsers Too Have Security Exploits

» SPAMfighter News - 2/18/2011